Inside View: Pete Carlson, Opus Development Co.

Senior vice president, Opus Development Co.

After running his own commercial real estate development firm for 25 years, Pete Carlson, 58, has joined Minnetonka-based Opus Development Co. as senior vice president. He will focus on industrial, office and retail development throughout the Midwest. Opus has several Twin Cities developments underway, including the Nic on Fifth luxury apartment tower in downtown Minneapolis and an office building on Nicollet Mall for Xcel Energy. The developer also is in the early stages of planning a mixed-use, 30-story tower at the north end of Nicollet Mall.

Carlson, who co-founded Minnetonka-based Chesapeake Cos. with his best friend, Jon McClure, in 1989, developed, financed and leased more than 6 million square feet of commercial real estate projects across the United States. The Mound native also had stints at Northland Development Co. and Woodbridge Partners.

Q: Talk more about Chesapeake Cos.

A: I don't know why our wives allowed us to do this. We started in one room with two phones, a bunch of little kids and a couple of credit cards. We had worked for several years with other developers and really enjoyed their mentorship to learn the business from the bottom up. What we hoped to do — even though the market was just in the tank due to the recession at that point – was create a business where we could pursue our passion for development yet create balance in our personal lives. That's what we did for 25 years. It was absolutely wonderful.

Q: How did you end up at Opus?

A: About 18 months ago, we started looking at the market — which was coming back — and talked about what kind of revenue initiatives we wanted to pursue with this next cycle. Jon had been getting more and more involved with nonprofit organizations and decided he wanted to pursue some other exciting opportunities that were outside of real estate. We decided to unwind the projects we have.

A: I've known [Opus executives] Tim Murnane, Tom Shaver and Dave Menke for many years and happened to be working with Dave on a project. He mentioned they were getting very busy and asked if I would ever consider joining them. I'm very excited to be part of the Opus team. They're really well-positioned in this new economic cycle.

Q: What are your main responsibilities?

A: Initially, I'll be focused on the Midwest — helping out with some of their existing projects and also with their new projects. I'm reaching out with my network and trying to develop new relationships and drive new revenue.